Metadigm--YOU CAN COLLABORATE WITH THE WRITING--add comments and source info to avoid the C.A.S.E. method of research---this is a ROUGH DRAFT
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You're fast becoming addicted to the narcotic of predictability . . . and the longer you persist, the greater will be the pain of withdrawal.
Change Change begins with us – with our heart, our head, and our hands that drive our leadership practice (Sergiovanni, 2005).”
Our aim should be to change our cultural practices so that students and teachers look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting our rewards and punishments (Shepard, 2000).”
“There is a subtle spirit that can be sensed the moment one walks into a school…that subtle spirit is the school culture (California School Leadership Academy).”
“I am an idealist, I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way (Anonymous)”.
“Having advanced communication skills goes a long way to maximizing effectiveness is creating positive, proactive, and successful schools.” (Schneider, E. J. 2004.)
in a culture of change requires shared commitment from the whole staff that change is necessary and possible.” (Hargreaves, Comer, DuFour, Boykin, Fullan & Slavin).
I have learned that in order for change to work it must consist of three stages: initiation, implementation, and continuation. . A “systems” approach should be used to ensure that all aspects of the school organization are considered when planning and implanting changes (Sparks, 1993). Next, in the implementation phase, training and staff development should be offered. The final institutionalization phase includes the decision to implant change or the denial of the proposed change. (Robbins and Alvy, 2003). Change should be a slow steady process that may wish to be broken down into manageable steps that all involved collaborate and work together on (Stiegelbauer; 1994). Culture Schools that share a strong sense of community are places where all stake holders feel safe. According to Dewey, "a public is a group of people who are faced with a similar problem, are aware that it exists, and organize to do something about it." (Grunig & Hunt; 1984).
School culture has direct impact on student success.The culture of a school also impacts the way teachers conduct themselves and how committed they are in their classrooms.Prior to this program, I realized some teachers were more committed than others, and always wondered how to “fix” them.Now I realize a big part of their attitudes are related to culture.
.“The creation of a safe and supportive learning community must be comprehensive, schoolwide, and woven into the curriculum and culture of the school” (Learning First Alliance, 2001). PD .“If principals do not go out of their way to learn more regardless of what the system is doing they cannot become a pressure point for positive change.”(Fullan, 2003). Allocating resources strategically and structuring the organization for learning is a difficult, tedious, and necessary job that all principals will encounter.
“In fact, without regularly scheduled time for teachers to improve their own practice, all the long blocks in the world won’t change a thing for students” (Cushman 1995.)
“We based our plan on two key assumptions: that teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement; and that student test results, at least to some extent, provide a valid and reliable reflection of a teacher’s performance.” (Cohen 2003).
“Collaborative cultures are innovative not just because they provide support, but also because they recognize the value of dissonance inside and outside the organization (Fullan, 1999).”
Tenure sometimes protects the lazy or the unmotivated.
Teachers who take advantage of these opportunities will improve themselves as professionals and will grow into lifelong learners
This course taught me the moral imperative to ensure that a school’s culture, processes, and structure support continuous professional development.
The “Big Four” of common time for teachers to work together, individualized attention for students, more time for students in academic courses, and support for learning and implementing new practices (Miles, 2001) are important tools for any administrator in any district in the country. These are the four guiding resource principles that successful schools are implementing into their allocation of funding to provide a strong backbone for creating better working and better scoring schools. Individualized attention for students in Language Arts, Dr. Karen Hawley Miles’ research shows that it is the four focus areas for schools that aim to transform their building (Miles 2001).
“Ensuring a quality education for students with disabilities requires a clear understanding of what constitutes an effective learning environment for these students” (Overview of Key Issues, Theories and Research-Module B, 2008). Assessment Assessment is key in any area of education—we must acknowledge if the students are learning the content. Once it is determined if learning is or is not occurring, teachers can modify their lessons to attempt to accommodate all learners. However, if only one type of assessment (tests) is used in a particular curriculum, many students may not have the opportunity to showcase their particular talents. Assessment is important, but it is equally important to gage what type of help your students require. “Our aim should be to change our cultural practices so that students and teacher look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting out rewards and punishments.” (Shepard 2000).
“Classroom assessment has been shown to be one of the most powerful levers for enhancing student learning.” (Hawley, 2007).
The most compelling reason to get to know your data is that it is indisputable (Butler, 2001). “Data helps school communities develop a map for the future: what students need in order to master grade-level knowledge and skills and what teachers need to help them succeed” (Butler, 2001). . Making sure these final exams are valid is important because we are checking whether a "test includes or excludes content that it would be expected to measure" (Baker 2007).
Data is such a vital tool.It ‘can give an accurate picture of what students have learned in the past and give a clear indication of the present, based on reality not perception” (Butler, 2001).Data can be used to identify what teachers are and aren't teaching and help the school and staff identify what steps they need to take to make improvements.It can be used to monitor students' progress over the years and from the beginning of the school year to the end.“When schools or other groups make decisions based on data, they do so using information that has been gathered regularly in a systematic, thoughtful way to inform their plans for future actions or to modify current practices” (Butler, 2001).
Leadership
I have learned that instituting change requires both careful planning and adjusting to the unknown. School leaders must bear the weight of constant scrutiny against what is happening at their school. Leaders need to “keep up the pressure and provide visible sanction for what is happening.” (Stiegelbauer, 1994).
When promoting shared leadership within a school, principals must be sure to allow the new “leaders” equal responsibility and authority.Thomas Sergiovanni (2005) argues that for leadership to be effective it needs to be fully resourced.“This happens when one’s responsibility and authority are matched.” administrator must be a good communicator Culture fosters school effectiveness and productivity (Purkey and Smith, 1983), improves collegial and collaborative activities that foster better communication and problem solving practices (Little, 1982), fosters successful change and improvement efforts (Louis and Miles, 1990), builds commitment and identification of staff, students, and administrators (Schein, 1985), amplifies the energy, motivation, and vitality of a school staff, students, and community and increases the focus of daily behavior and attention on what is important and valued (Deal & Kennedy, 1982).
as an administrator, it is important to facilitate effective learning for all students. In order to strengthen your school, administrators must utilize all available data to see where problems exits, and put plans into action The job of a school administrator is complex and dynamic; it is one that involves balancing school and community needs and desires against local, state, and national requirements.
The classes taken have taught me that principals have a moral imperative to encourage his or her staff to instill effective learning, high academic achievement, and outstanding performance in all students. Principals must be aware of the theories, concepts, and educational strategies that compliment the moral obligation schools have Instruction I learned in this class that it would be prudent to choose fewer topics (the main ideas I wanted the students to know) and take more time to work on these topics.
I also developed a belief that if I were a principal, I would strive for that goal that ALL students could be educated and that the staff should adopt this point of view.
Learning how to teach in an inclusion class can only benefit the regular education teacher.
The first is that, as an elective teacher, many models of class schedules seem to push the electives out of the picture.
I do feel that teaching is as much an art as it is a science.
the focus of reform and improvement efforts must be on learning, not teaching.
What matters is collaboration, data analysis, consistency, and persistence. I discovered during this course that the questions that a principal should be asking are to what extent are the students learning the intended outcomes of each course? And what steps can be taken to provide both students and teachers the additional time and support they need to improve learning?This shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning is more than semantics.
It has been found that teachers who are also more learner centered are more successful in engaging more students in an effective learning process and are more effective learners themselves and happier with their jobs (Devereaux).
“Perhaps the most critical (and unresolved) time allocation issue that schools face is the indisputable fact that some students need more time to learn than others” (Canady & Retting, 1995). It is apparent through the research studied that the ultimate goal of every ELL student is proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing of English and to be integrated into mainstream education (Linquanti, 1999).
Teachers must pay close attention to the knowledge skills, and attitudes that learners bring into the classroom (Bransford, 2003). Embrace individual differences and help students use their individual differences to enhance learning (Hawley, 2006).
A ‘metacognitive’ approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them (Bransford, 2003).
ELL students are: (1) the school program must be based on sound educational theory; (2) the program must be implemented effectively, with adequate resources and personnel; and (3) the program must be evaluated and determined to be effective in all subject areas (Crawford, 1999).
First and foremost, teachers must come to teaching with the experience of in-depth study of the subject area themselves (How People Learn, 20) and believe that all of their students "can."
\“Good teaching is an essential element in efforts to improve student achievement” (Protheroe, 2002).
Family The relationships between parents/families and school personnel are central to the establishment of a positive school climate that supports the healthy development of children (Stocklinski, 2004). “The relationships between parents/families and school personnel are central to the establishment of a positive school climate that supports the healthy development of children” (Jackson, S., Martin, N., & Stocklinski, J., 2004). One of the defining features of effective parent and community involvement appears to be good communication (Antunez, 2000).
When parents feel valued and like what they are doing is meaningful, they will be more willing to volunteer their time.When children see their parents interacting with school personnel, "they are more likely to imitate, identify with, and internalize the values and goals of the school" (Jackson, S., Martin, N., & Stocklinksi, J., 2004).
The Moral North star key points --everything you do in this world counts
--the act of discovering previously unknown information and then communicating it to others seemed incredibly worthwhile and powerful.
--How can we get students to see the knowledge and skills we expect them to learn in school as important to their own lives and aspirations?
-- The notion of accomplishing a worthy purpose captured my imagination, guided my choices, and spurred my energies toward the pursuit of excellence.
--it is a question of the purpose behind the requirements.
The question of purpose is what psychologists call an ultimate concern (Emmons, 1999) because it gives meaning lo short-term goals (such as passing tests and getting good grades) by asking where these short-term goals will lead. Purpose acts as a moral north star on the route to excellence: It offers a steady beacon for inspiring and directing students' best efforts over the long haul, within the classroom and beyond.
--teachers must address the question of why academic knowledge is important.
For example, teachers can
• Engage in regular conversations with students about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations in life.
• Recognize student accomplishments that indicate beyond the-self concerns.
• Link present school activities with the future life plans of students.
• Probe for deeper thinking by frequently asking, Why? When students give cryptic answers to questions.
• Connect school lessons to larger world issues.
• Provide students with the pedagogical reasons behind a particular activity or lesson.
• Develop lessons that make visible how students' actions contribute to wider systems (for example, a science
unit that links student behavior to ecological impact).
• Introduce students to purpose in discussion of vocations.
• Create biographical units about purposeful people that include both famous people and locals who have
direct contact with students.
• Nurture civic purpose by encouraging responsible citizenship within the school and beyond.
Leading Models Notes
--teachers have common planning periods, but MDRCs observations suggested that teachers need guidance in focusing on instruction during their collaborative time.
-- meetings—teachers used the time to plan interdisciplinary projects OT discuss instructional approaches.
-- set aside time to meet regularly to discuss how to teach particular topics, align curriculums with standards, and review whether expectations are rigorous enough-
-- how are schools are now functioning and thoroughly asses the size of the gap between their ideal and their current reality ® GAP Analysis
-- what is the magnitude and pace of change that we can expect. References
Butler, K.(2001).Putting Standardized test to the test. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Canady, R.L. & Rettig, M.D.(1995).Educational Leadership. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Fullen, M.(2001)In The new meaning of educational change.Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Gladden, R. M. (2002).Review of research in education. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Jackson, S., Martin, N., & Stocklinski,J.(2004).Six pathways to healthy child development and academic success: The field guide to Comer Schools in action.Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
Kirst. (1991).School/Community Partnerships to Support Language Minority Student Success.Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
Peterson, K.D., & Deal, T.E. (2002).The shaping school culture fieldbook.Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
Portin, B., Schneider, P., DeArmond, M., & Gundlach, L.(2003).Making sense of leading schools: A study of the school principalship.Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (2004).Strengthening the Heartbeat: Leading and Learning Together in Schools (Jossey-Bass Education Series).San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Valley & Hawley.(2002).A Computer Networked Professional Development Collaborative: Effectively Implementing Literacy Instruction in the Classroom.Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
The Science of Learning
My colleagues who serve as principals often struggle to both lead a powerful, wholeschool vision for high-quality instruction and help individual students for whom success at learning and school remains elusive. The larger the school, the more quickly they determine that fulfilling both tasks simultaneously is impossible. (is there a balance within the dynamic)
Our conversations begin with broad ideas and concepts about addressing learning diversity but quickly move to stories about the students who keep them up at night. Typical is one principal’s concern about Jeff, a bright 10th grader who is generally a strong student, although he’s had some difficulties since middle school. In particular, he receives poor grades on writing assignments, especially on essays and research papers. His state writing test barely scored a two. Jeff does well on most other tests and evaluations, and his teachers think highly of him, but his papers, reports, and essays are returned to him with the same messages: “highly disorganized,” “needs more clarification,” and “incomplete.” The continued negative feedback on writing assignments frustrates Jeff and he feels humiliated about it. “I don’t get it,” he said when asked about what is going on. “I rewrote that essay twice, and it still comes back with marks all over it.” His dad wonders if Jeff even has a chance at being successful in college.
Principals who are determined to help their teachers inspire all students to bold accomplishments while identifying the right strategies for their most complex and struggling learners need to have a relentless focus on making learning the core business of school. This isn’t the same as emphasizing assessment data, standards, and instruction. Rather, it means focusing on the foundation upon which all those initiatives rest: an understanding of how people learn. Findings from neuroscience and cognitive and behavioral science and their implications for learning can help principals equip their faculty members with strategies and tactics that make personalized and successful learning plans a reality. Equally important, their schools will unearth the unique strengths and affinities of uniquely wired minds. Not only will more students become successful learners but also schools will nurture many more diverse and creative minds. How Learning Happens Schools can’t make more than modest gains in student achievement without making greater expertise on how learning happens a core competency of educational practice. The National Expert Panel on Increasing the Application of Knowledge About Child and Adolescent Development and Learning in Educator Preparation Programs—chaired by James Comer and Linda Darling-Hammond and convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education—will issue a plan of action in 2010 calling for attention to child and adolescent development and learning in preparation programs. Practicing educators have had limited opportunities to acquire this knowledge, if they had any opportunities at all. The primary focus for professional preparation and development—usually supported by No Child Left Behind and philanthropic dollars—has been on deepening content knowledge without balancing that focus by deepening learner knowledge. Concurrently, there has been an explosion of findings about neuroscience and its relation to learning. This new knowledge has filtered to only a fraction of U.S. classrooms despite the emergence of several organizations that are dedicated to this field. Many of those organizations focus on synthesizing the latest research on learning and learning variation into a framework that can be used by educators to better understand the learning and academic performances of students—particularly those who appear to struggle.
All Kinds of Minds, one such organization, provides programs and resources for educators that are based on a synthesis of research led by Mel Levine. Neuroscience, developmental knowledge, and cognitive science research findings are placed in a neurodevelopment framework that organizes these insights into eight constructs that influence learning. Educators learn this framework and how to use it to determine students’ learning strengths and weaknesses as a way to understand the phenomenology of their classrooms. At its core, this framework provides a way to understand individual students’ behavior, work products, and responses to instructional tasks as they relate to how each student learns—or doesn’t.
Medina (2008) asserted that being able to “read” a student’s mind is a powerful tool in the hands of teachers: This is the ability to understand the interior motivations of someone else and the ability to construct a predictable theory of how their mind works based on that knowledge. This gives teachers critical access to their students’ interior educational life. (p. 67) Medina (2008) argued that having such understanding is the single most important ingredient for becoming effective facilitators of information and could be the most important predictor of who will become a good teacher, particularly among those who teach many kinds of minds. As a first step to developing such understanding among their staff members, principals can incorporate study about learning variation in a long-term professional development plan. Content from organizations that focus on the relationship between neuroscience and learning in professional learning communities is helpful for self-guided online professional development or for presentations at all-staff conferences. The Most Vulnerable As teachers acquire knowledge about learning variation, how minds are wired to learn, and the neurodevelopmental requirements for specific subject matter mastery, they can begin to focus on the needs of their most vulnerable and perplexing students. In his keynote presentation at the third annual What Works Conference, Nelson (2008) relayed the following story: At the start of the school year, a principal from a school in Washington State asked her faculty members if they could identify any students they thought might fail. Each teacher named two or three. After taking all the names and compiling them into a composite picture, the principal reconvened the staff and said, “Now that we’ve doomed these students to failure, what should we do about it?” From then on, that group of students—and their progress—became the focus of weekly staff meetings. Hidden Strengths Although Nelson (2008) used the story to describe how the school used improving science and math performance as the instructional focus, the research showed that the focus on the cohort of students resulted in gains on state tests for all students. When the staff made visible the students who were at risk of failing and used instructional innovation and intervention to reach them, all the students in the school benefited. Principals can replicate this success by asking their teams or academic departments to identify the students who are most at risk and then making the entire school faculty accountable for those students’ success. Instructional management plans can help educators match instruction to how students are wired to learn.
Finn (2008) noted that “people are good at different things—and plenty of human traits matter besides academics.” Further, he warned, “Don’t read too much into test scores.... They’re risky when it comes to judging individuals.” Citing episodes with his own children, he concluded that “test scores concealed more than they showed” (p. 36). The obsession to meet benchmarks can obscure even more valuable information about students.
Often, educators rush to find out what’s wrong when they see students who are not progressing at the expected grade level. The search for what is going wrong can’t obscure the more important search for what’s going right. In adulthood, what really counts is the depth and diversity of a person’s strengths. Schools haven’t served students well if they progress through each grade level to graduation while harboring undiscovered or neglected mental assets.
Equally important is helping all students identify and express their affinities and passions, which can be key in making decontextualized academic content relevant to the lives of students. When she was the headmistress of Purnell School in New Jersey, Jennifer Fox developed an affinities program ([[ADMINISTRATIVE/PD/www.strengthsmovement.com|www.strengthsmovement.com]]) for high school girls that can be a core component of any middle level or high school program. The program is based on the belief that building on students’ strengths is the best way to help them create meaningful lives. Ingredients for Success Knowing how people learn enables educators to identify the mental processes that students use to master important lessons, tasks, and assessments. When teachers understand this, they can do two things: They can inform students of which brain functions they will be using in a lecture, an experiment, a group project, a written analysis, or a math problem or to prepare for a high-stakes test. They can also identify and teach strategies that will support students who have weak wiring for the demands of a given task.
An added value from programs that develop learning expertise in educators is that they will also develop a shared vocabulary to use when describing student learning challenges. Teachers can replace—or complement—such labels as “attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder” with detailed descriptions of the students’ attention challenges and strengths. Progress reports and conferences about students can use language that avoids the judgmental tone that often creeps into discussions of students’ work. Conclusion Over time, developing teachers’ capacity to deeply understand the learning variation in their classrooms will replace the tyranny of testing with the love of learning as the focus of classroom practice. The beginning step of using this new research with just one student picked by every teacher—and jointly taking responsibility for seeing this cohort succeed— will help teachers become confident that they have the skills to teach the most-complex learners. When minds are no longer misunderstood and interventions address students’ “weak wiring,” teachers, students, and parents replace old habits of frustration and defeat with a hopeful and optimistic sense that students can be successful and discover their strengths. PL
References
Finn, C. E., Jr. (2008, February 27). Lessons learned. Education Week, pp. 28, 36.
Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.
Nelson, G. (2008, November). Innovations in improving the STEM teaching pipeline. Keynote presentation at the third annual What Works Conference of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, Washington, DC.
Mary-Dean Barringer (mbarringer@allkindsofminds.org) is the chief executive officer of All Kinds of Minds in Durham, NC.
What can I do?
Once you’ve been in touch with heavenly reality, earth never looks quite the same again.John 4:21,24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
The only way to make a positive change that is permanent is to have a new heart that beats to the rhythm of God’s Holy Spirit. The words written on your heart are expressed in an old poem: You are writing a Gospel,
a chapter a day,
by the things that you do
and the words that you say.
Men read what you write,
whether faithful of true:
just what is the Gospel
according to you?
The Lord is a warrior (Exodus 15:3) He’s too smart to be caught by surprise and too strong to be beaten.
John Wesley wrote: "Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but God, who hate nothing but sin, and who know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I will shake the world.” The world needs to be shaken. Christ the man, Christ the Savior, is Christ the revolutionary. Are you part of his revolution or are you in need of being revolutionized? Are you a mission field or a missionary? (www.familylife.com/fltoday 3/7/00).
Are You Compelled? And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). I struggle as much as anyone with turning a conversation to spiritual things. However, I can't escape a few truths that lead me to step out by faith: First, I am compelled by the realization that without Christ all men are lost and without hope. Sure, humans do good things, but that doesn't change the fact that we all sin naturally. I've never taught a single one of our six children how to steal a cookie, yet they all have done it. It's part of their natures. And it's because of sin all men are lost. Second, I'm compelled to share Christ with others because of the reality of hell. Thinking about hell is not in vogue today. But Christ spoke of hell as a real place of eternal judgment and torment. Third, I want to share the good news because it is the very reason for which Christ came to the planet Earth. Jesus Christ didn't go to the cross just so we could have happy homes. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Look around you. The army of God needs fresh troops who are willing to get into a foxhole. The hour couldn't be more urgent. And your family is an important part of the solution. "So what do I do?" you ask. Below are a few ideas. Don't let this list overwhelm you. The important thing is to start...somewhere...with something. Read Witnessing Without Fear by Bill Bright, founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ. It will show you how to share your faith with confidence in any type of witnessing situation. Have an evangelistic dinner party at your home for a few couples you know. Host a "Good News Club" for neighborhood children. Pick up several copies of "The Four Spiritual Laws" at your local Christian bookstore, and use them to explain the gospel. Show your children how to share their faith. Invite a neighborhood child to go to church with you. Now is the time for boldness. Step out and ask people about their relationships with God. Discuss: Take a few minutes and identify people you know who need Christ. Make a list. Pray: That God will give you an opportunity to share the gospel with them.--- Listen online to FamilyLife's radio program, FamilyLife Today, when you visit http://www.familylife.com/fltoday/April 18
Change
Change begins with us – with our heart, our head, and our hands that drive our leadership practice (Sergiovanni, 2005).”
Our aim should be to change our cultural practices so that students and teachers look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting our rewards and punishments (Shepard, 2000).”
“There is a subtle spirit that can be sensed the moment one walks into a school…that subtle spirit is the school culture (California School Leadership Academy).”
“I am an idealist, I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way (Anonymous)”.
“Having advanced communication skills goes a long way to maximizing effectiveness is creating positive, proactive, and successful schools.” (Schneider, E. J. 2004.)
in a culture of change requires shared commitment from the whole staff that change is necessary and possible.” (Hargreaves, Comer, DuFour, Boykin, Fullan & Slavin).
I have learned that in order for change to work it must consist of three stages: initiation, implementation, and continuation.
. A “systems” approach should be used to ensure that all aspects of the school organization are considered when planning and implanting changes (Sparks, 1993). Next, in the implementation phase, training and staff development should be offered. The final institutionalization phase includes the decision to implant change or the denial of the proposed change. (Robbins and Alvy, 2003).
Change should be a slow steady process that may wish to be broken down into manageable steps that all involved collaborate and work together on (Stiegelbauer; 1994).
Culture
Schools that share a strong sense of community are places where all stake holders feel safe.
According to Dewey, "a public is a group of people who are faced with a similar problem, are aware that it exists, and organize to do something about it." (Grunig & Hunt; 1984).
School culture has direct impact on student success. The culture of a school also impacts the way teachers conduct themselves and how committed they are in their classrooms. Prior to this program, I realized some teachers were more committed than others, and always wondered how to “fix” them. Now I realize a big part of their attitudes are related to culture.
. “The creation of a safe and supportive learning community must be comprehensive, schoolwide, and woven into the curriculum and culture of the school” (Learning First Alliance, 2001).
PD
. “If principals do not go out of their way to learn more regardless of what the system is doing they cannot become a pressure point for positive change.” (Fullan, 2003).
Allocating resources strategically and structuring the organization for learning is a difficult, tedious, and necessary job that all principals will encounter.
“In fact, without regularly scheduled time for teachers to improve their own practice, all the long blocks in the world won’t change a thing for students” (Cushman 1995.)
“We based our plan on two key assumptions: that teachers have the greatest impact on student achievement; and that student test results, at least to some extent, provide a valid and reliable reflection of a teacher’s performance.” (Cohen 2003).
“Collaborative cultures are innovative not just because they provide support, but also because they recognize the value of dissonance inside and outside the organization (Fullan, 1999).”
Tenure sometimes protects the lazy or the unmotivated.
Teachers who take advantage of these opportunities will improve themselves as professionals and will grow into lifelong learners
This course taught me the moral imperative to ensure that a school’s culture, processes, and structure support continuous professional development.
The “Big Four” of common time for teachers to work together, individualized attention for students, more time for students in academic courses, and support for learning and implementing new practices (Miles, 2001) are important tools for any administrator in any district in the country. These are the four guiding resource principles that successful schools are implementing into their allocation of funding to provide a strong backbone for creating better working and better scoring schools. Individualized attention for students in Language Arts, Dr. Karen Hawley Miles’ research shows that it is the four focus areas for schools that aim to transform their building (Miles 2001).
“Ensuring a quality education for students with disabilities requires a clear understanding of what constitutes an effective learning environment for these students” (Overview of Key Issues, Theories and Research-Module B, 2008).
Assessment
Assessment is key in any area of education—we must acknowledge if the students are learning the content. Once it is determined if learning is or is not occurring, teachers can modify their lessons to attempt to accommodate all learners. However, if only one type of assessment (tests) is used in a particular curriculum, many students may not have the opportunity to showcase their particular talents. Assessment is important, but it is equally important to gage what type of help your students require. “Our aim should be to change our cultural practices so that students and teacher look to assessment as a source of insight and help instead of an occasion for meting out rewards and punishments.” (Shepard 2000).
“Classroom assessment has been shown to be one of the most powerful levers for enhancing student learning.” (Hawley, 2007).
The most compelling reason to get to know your data is that it is indisputable (Butler, 2001).
“Data helps school communities develop a map for the future: what students need in order to master grade-level knowledge and skills and what teachers need to help them succeed” (Butler, 2001).
. Making sure these final exams are valid is important because we are checking whether a "test includes or excludes content that it would be expected to measure" (Baker 2007).
Data is such a vital tool. It ‘can give an accurate picture of what students have learned in the past and give a clear indication of the present, based on reality not perception” (Butler, 2001). Data can be used to identify what teachers are and aren't teaching and help the school and staff identify what steps they need to take to make improvements. It can be used to monitor students' progress over the years and from the beginning of the school year to the end. “When schools or other groups make decisions based on data, they do so using information that has been gathered regularly in a systematic, thoughtful way to inform their plans for future actions or to modify current practices” (Butler, 2001).
Leadership
I have learned that instituting change requires both careful planning and adjusting to the unknown. School leaders must bear the weight of constant scrutiny against what is happening at their school. Leaders need to “keep up the pressure and provide visible sanction for what is happening.” (Stiegelbauer, 1994).
When promoting shared leadership within a school, principals must be sure to allow the new “leaders” equal responsibility and authority. Thomas Sergiovanni (2005) argues that for leadership to be effective it needs to be fully resourced. “This happens when one’s responsibility and authority are matched.”
administrator must be a good communicator
Culture fosters school effectiveness and productivity (Purkey and Smith, 1983), improves collegial and collaborative activities that foster better communication and problem solving practices (Little, 1982), fosters successful change and improvement efforts (Louis and Miles, 1990), builds commitment and identification of staff, students, and administrators (Schein, 1985), amplifies the energy, motivation, and vitality of a school staff, students, and community and increases the focus of daily behavior and attention on what is important and valued (Deal & Kennedy, 1982).
as an administrator, it is important to facilitate effective learning for all students.
In order to strengthen your school, administrators must utilize all available data to see where problems exits, and put plans into action
The job of a school administrator is complex and dynamic; it is one that involves balancing school and community needs and desires against local, state, and national requirements.
The classes taken have taught me that principals have a moral imperative to encourage his or her staff to instill effective learning, high academic achievement, and outstanding performance in all students. Principals must be aware of the theories, concepts, and educational strategies that compliment the moral obligation schools have
Instruction
I learned in this class that it would be prudent to choose fewer topics (the main ideas I wanted the students to know) and take more time to work on these topics.
I also developed a belief that if I were a principal, I would strive for that goal that ALL students could be educated and that the staff should adopt this point of view.
Learning how to teach in an inclusion class can only benefit the regular education teacher.
The first is that, as an elective teacher, many models of class schedules seem to push the electives out of the picture.
I do feel that teaching is as much an art as it is a science.
the focus of reform and improvement efforts must be on learning, not teaching.
What matters is collaboration, data analysis, consistency, and persistence.
I discovered during this course that the questions that a principal should be asking are to what extent are the students learning the intended outcomes of each course? And what steps can be taken to provide both students and teachers the additional time and support they need to improve learning? This shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning is more than semantics.
It has been found that teachers who are also more learner centered are more successful in engaging more students in an effective learning process and are more effective learners themselves and happier with their jobs (Devereaux).
“Perhaps the most critical (and unresolved) time allocation issue that schools face is the indisputable fact that some students need more time to learn than others” (Canady & Retting, 1995).
It is apparent through the research studied that the ultimate goal of every ELL student is proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing of English and to be integrated into mainstream education (Linquanti, 1999).
Teachers must pay close attention to the knowledge skills, and attitudes that learners bring into the classroom (Bransford, 2003). Embrace individual differences and help students use their individual differences to enhance learning (Hawley, 2006).
A ‘metacognitive’ approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them (Bransford, 2003).
ELL students are: (1) the school program must be based on sound educational theory; (2) the program must be implemented effectively, with adequate resources and personnel; and (3) the program must be evaluated and determined to be effective in all subject areas (Crawford, 1999).
First and foremost, teachers must come to teaching with the experience of in-depth study of the subject area themselves (How People Learn, 20) and believe that all of their students "can."
\“Good teaching is an essential element in efforts to improve student achievement” (Protheroe, 2002).
Family
The relationships between parents/families and school personnel are central to the establishment of a positive school climate that supports the healthy development of children (Stocklinski, 2004).
“The relationships between parents/families and school personnel are central to the establishment of a positive school climate that supports the healthy development of children” (Jackson, S., Martin, N., & Stocklinski, J., 2004).
One of the defining features of effective parent and community involvement appears to be good communication (Antunez, 2000).
When parents feel valued and like what they are doing is meaningful, they will be more willing to volunteer their time. When children see their parents interacting with school personnel, "they are more likely to imitate, identify with, and internalize the values and goals of the school" (Jackson, S., Martin, N., & Stocklinksi, J., 2004).
The Moral North star key points
--everything you do in this world counts
--the act of discovering previously unknown information and then communicating it to others seemed incredibly worthwhile and powerful.
--How can we get students to see the knowledge and skills we expect them to learn in school as important to their own lives and aspirations?
-- The notion of accomplishing a worthy purpose captured my imagination, guided my choices, and spurred my energies toward the pursuit of excellence.
--it is a question of the purpose behind the requirements.
The question of purpose is what psychologists call an ultimate concern (Emmons, 1999) because it gives meaning lo short-term goals (such as passing tests and getting good grades) by asking where these short-term goals will lead. Purpose acts as a moral north star on the route to excellence: It offers a steady beacon for inspiring and directing students' best efforts over the long haul, within the classroom and beyond.
--teachers must address the question of why academic knowledge is important.
For example, teachers can
• Engage in regular conversations with students about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations in life.
• Recognize student accomplishments that indicate beyond the-self concerns.
• Link present school activities with the future life plans of students.
• Probe for deeper thinking by frequently asking, Why? When students give cryptic answers to questions.
• Connect school lessons to larger world issues.
• Provide students with the pedagogical reasons behind a particular activity or lesson.
• Develop lessons that make visible how students' actions contribute to wider systems (for example, a science
unit that links student behavior to ecological impact).
• Introduce students to purpose in discussion of vocations.
• Create biographical units about purposeful people that include both famous people and locals who have
direct contact with students.
• Nurture civic purpose by encouraging responsible citizenship within the school and beyond.
Leading Models Notes
--teachers have common planning periods, but MDRCs observations suggested that teachers need guidance in focusing on instruction during their collaborative time.
-- meetings—teachers used the time to plan interdisciplinary projects OT discuss instructional approaches.
-- set aside time to meet regularly to discuss how to teach particular topics, align curriculums with standards, and review whether expectations are rigorous enough-
-- how are schools are now functioning and thoroughly asses the size of the gap between their ideal and their current reality ® GAP Analysis
-- what is the magnitude and pace of change that we can expect.
References
Butler, K. (2001). Putting Standardized test to the test. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Canady, R.L. & Rettig, M.D. (1995). Educational Leadership. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Fullen, M. (2001) In The new meaning of educational change. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Gladden, R. M. (2002). Review of research in education. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Jackson, S., Martin, N., & Stocklinski,J. (2004). Six pathways to healthy child
development and academic success: The field guide to Comer Schools in action. Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
Kirst. (1991). School/Community Partnerships to Support Language Minority Student Success. Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
Peterson, K.D., & Deal, T.E. (2002). The shaping school culture fieldbook. Los
Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
Portin, B., Schneider, P., DeArmond, M., & Gundlach, L. (2003). Making sense of leading schools: A study of the school principalship. Los Angeles:
Canter & Associates, Inc.
Sergiovanni, T. J. (2004). Strengthening the Heartbeat: Leading and Learning Together in Schools (Jossey-Bass Education Series). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Valley & Hawley. (2002). A Computer Networked Professional Development Collaborative: Effectively Implementing Literacy Instruction in the Classroom. Los Angeles: Canter & Associates, Inc.
The Science of Learning
My colleagues who serve as principals often struggle to both lead a powerful, wholeschool vision for high-quality instruction and help individual students for whom success at learning and school remains elusive. The larger the school, the more quickly they determine that fulfilling both tasks simultaneously is impossible. (is there a balance within the dynamic)Our conversations begin with broad ideas and concepts about addressing learning diversity but quickly move to stories about the students who keep them up at night. Typical is one principal’s concern about Jeff, a bright 10th grader who is generally a strong student, although he’s had some difficulties since middle school. In particular, he receives poor grades on writing assignments, especially on essays and research papers. His state writing test barely scored a two. Jeff does well on most other tests and evaluations, and his teachers think highly of him, but his papers, reports, and essays are returned to him with the same messages: “highly disorganized,” “needs more clarification,” and “incomplete.” The continued negative feedback on writing assignments frustrates Jeff and he feels humiliated about it. “I don’t get it,” he said when asked about what is going on. “I rewrote that essay twice, and it still comes back with marks all over it.” His dad wonders if Jeff even has a chance at being successful in college.
Principals who are determined to help their teachers inspire all students to bold accomplishments while identifying the right strategies for their most complex and struggling learners need to have a relentless focus on making learning the core business of school. This isn’t the same as emphasizing assessment data, standards, and instruction. Rather, it means focusing on the foundation upon which all those initiatives rest: an understanding of how people learn. Findings from neuroscience and cognitive and behavioral science and their implications for learning can help principals equip their faculty members with strategies and tactics that make personalized and successful learning plans a reality. Equally important, their schools will unearth the unique strengths and affinities of uniquely wired minds. Not only will more students become successful learners but also schools will nurture many more diverse and creative minds.
How Learning Happens
Schools can’t make more than modest gains in student achievement without making greater expertise on how learning happens a core competency of educational practice. The National Expert Panel on Increasing the Application of Knowledge About Child and Adolescent Development and Learning in Educator Preparation Programs—chaired by James Comer and Linda Darling-Hammond and convened by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education—will issue a plan of action in 2010 calling for attention to child and adolescent development and learning in preparation programs. Practicing educators have had limited opportunities to acquire this knowledge, if they had any opportunities at all.
The primary focus for professional preparation and development—usually supported by No Child Left Behind and philanthropic dollars—has been on deepening content knowledge without balancing that focus by deepening learner knowledge. Concurrently, there has been an explosion of findings about neuroscience and its relation to learning. This new knowledge has filtered to only a fraction of U.S. classrooms despite the emergence of several organizations that are dedicated to this field. Many of those organizations focus on synthesizing the latest research on learning and learning variation into a framework that can be used by educators to better understand the learning and academic performances of students—particularly those who appear to struggle.
All Kinds of Minds, one such organization, provides programs and resources for educators that are based on a synthesis of research led by Mel Levine. Neuroscience, developmental knowledge, and cognitive science research findings are placed in a neurodevelopment framework that organizes these insights into eight constructs that influence learning. Educators learn this framework and how to use it to determine students’ learning strengths and weaknesses as a way to understand the phenomenology of their classrooms. At its core, this framework provides a way to understand individual students’ behavior, work products, and responses to instructional tasks as they relate to how each student learns—or doesn’t.
Medina (2008) asserted that being able to “read” a student’s mind is a powerful tool in the hands of teachers: This is the ability to understand the interior motivations of someone else and the ability to construct a predictable theory of how their mind works based on that knowledge. This gives teachers critical access to their students’ interior educational life. (p. 67) Medina (2008) argued that having such understanding is the single most important ingredient for becoming effective facilitators of information and could be the most important predictor of who will become a good teacher, particularly among those who teach many kinds of minds. As a first step to developing such understanding among their staff members, principals can incorporate study about learning variation in a long-term professional development plan. Content from organizations that focus on the relationship between neuroscience and learning in professional learning communities is helpful for self-guided online professional development or for presentations at all-staff conferences.
The Most Vulnerable
As teachers acquire knowledge about learning variation, how minds are wired to learn, and the neurodevelopmental requirements for specific subject matter mastery, they can begin to focus on the needs of their most vulnerable and perplexing students. In his keynote presentation at the third annual What Works Conference, Nelson (2008) relayed the following story: At the start of the school year, a principal from a school in Washington State asked her faculty members if they could identify any students they thought might fail. Each teacher named two or three. After taking all the names and compiling them into a composite picture, the principal reconvened the staff and said, “Now that we’ve doomed these students to failure, what should we do about it?” From then on, that group of students—and their progress—became the focus of weekly staff meetings.
Hidden Strengths
Although Nelson (2008) used the story to describe how the school used improving science and math performance as the instructional focus, the research showed that the focus on the cohort of students resulted in gains on state tests for all students. When the staff made visible the students who were at risk of failing and used instructional innovation and intervention to reach them, all the students in the school benefited. Principals can replicate this success by asking their teams or academic departments to identify the students who are most at risk and then making the entire school faculty accountable for those students’ success. Instructional management plans can help educators match instruction to how students are wired to learn.
Finn (2008) noted that “people are good at different things—and plenty of human traits matter besides academics.” Further, he warned, “Don’t read too much into test scores.... They’re risky when it comes to judging individuals.” Citing episodes with his own children, he concluded that “test scores concealed more than they showed” (p. 36). The obsession to meet benchmarks can obscure even more valuable information about students.
Often, educators rush to find out what’s wrong when they see students who are not progressing at the expected grade level. The search for what is going wrong can’t obscure the more important search for what’s going right. In adulthood, what really counts is the depth and diversity of a person’s strengths. Schools haven’t served students well if they progress through each grade level to graduation while harboring undiscovered or neglected mental assets.
Equally important is helping all students identify and express their affinities and passions, which can be key in making decontextualized academic content relevant to the lives of students. When she was the headmistress of Purnell School in New Jersey, Jennifer Fox developed an affinities program ([[ADMINISTRATIVE/PD/www.strengthsmovement.com|www.strengthsmovement.com]]) for high school girls that can be a core component of any middle level or high school program. The program is based on the belief that building on students’ strengths is the best way to help them create meaningful lives.
Ingredients for Success
Knowing how people learn enables educators to identify the mental processes that students use to master important lessons, tasks, and assessments. When teachers understand this, they can do two things: They can inform students of which brain functions they will be using in a lecture, an experiment, a group project, a written analysis, or a math problem or to prepare for a high-stakes test. They can also identify and teach strategies that will support students who have weak wiring for the demands of a given task.
An added value from programs that develop learning expertise in educators is that they will also develop a shared vocabulary to use when describing student learning challenges. Teachers can replace—or complement—such labels as “attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder” with detailed descriptions of the students’ attention challenges and strengths. Progress reports and conferences about students can use language that avoids the judgmental tone that often creeps into discussions of students’ work.
Conclusion
Over time, developing teachers’ capacity to deeply understand the learning variation in their classrooms will replace the tyranny of testing with the love of learning as the focus of classroom practice. The beginning step of using this new research with just one student picked by every teacher—and jointly taking responsibility for seeing this cohort succeed— will help teachers become confident that they have the skills to teach the most-complex learners. When minds are no longer misunderstood and interventions address students’ “weak wiring,” teachers, students, and parents replace old habits of frustration and defeat with a hopeful and optimistic sense that students can be successful and discover their strengths. PL
References
Finn, C. E., Jr. (2008, February 27). Lessons learned. Education Week, pp. 28, 36.
Medina, J. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home and school. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.
Nelson, G. (2008, November). Innovations in improving the STEM teaching pipeline. Keynote presentation at the third annual What Works Conference of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, Washington, DC.
Mary-Dean Barringer (mbarringer@allkindsofminds.org) is the chief executive officer of All Kinds of Minds in Durham, NC.
What can I do?
Once you’ve been in touch with heavenly reality, earth never looks quite the same again. John 4:21,24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
The only way to make a positive change that is permanent is to have a new heart that beats to the rhythm of God’s Holy Spirit. The words written on your heart are expressed in an old poem:
You are writing a Gospel,
a chapter a day,
by the things that you do
and the words that you say.
Men read what you write,
whether faithful of true:
just what is the Gospel
according to you?
The Lord is a warrior (Exodus 15:3) He’s too smart to be caught by surprise and too strong to be beaten.
John Wesley wrote: "Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but God, who hate nothing but sin, and who know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I will shake the world.” The world needs to be shaken. Christ the man, Christ the Savior, is Christ the revolutionary. Are you part of his revolution or are you in need of being revolutionized? Are you a mission field or a missionary? (www.familylife.com/fltoday 3/7/00).
Are You Compelled? And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).
I struggle as much as anyone with turning a conversation to spiritual things. However, I can't escape a few truths that lead me to step out by faith:
First, I am compelled by the realization that without Christ all men are lost and without hope. Sure, humans do good things, but that doesn't change the fact that we all sin naturally. I've never taught a single one of our six children how to steal a cookie, yet they all have done it. It's part of their natures. And it's because of sin all men are lost.
Second, I'm compelled to share Christ with others because of the reality of hell. Thinking about hell is not in vogue today. But Christ spoke of hell as a real place of eternal judgment and torment.
Third, I want to share the good news because it is the very reason for which Christ came to the planet Earth. Jesus Christ didn't go to the cross just so we could have happy homes. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
Look around you. The army of God needs fresh troops who are willing to get into a foxhole. The hour couldn't be more urgent. And your family is an important part of the solution.
"So what do I do?" you ask. Below are a few ideas. Don't let this list overwhelm you. The important thing is to start...somewhere...with something.
Read Witnessing Without Fear by Bill Bright, founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ. It will show you how to share your faith with confidence in any type of witnessing situation.
Have an evangelistic dinner party at your home for a few couples you know.
Host a "Good News Club" for neighborhood children.
Pick up several copies of "The Four Spiritual Laws" at your local Christian bookstore, and use them to explain the gospel.
Show your children how to share their faith. Invite a neighborhood child to go to church with you.
Now is the time for boldness. Step out and ask people about their relationships with God.
Discuss: Take a few minutes and identify people you know who need Christ. Make a list.
Pray: That God will give you an opportunity to share the gospel with them.---
Listen online to FamilyLife's radio program, FamilyLife Today, when you
visit http://www.familylife.com/fltoday/ April 18